Desert Museum

16 Nov 2006 - These and the following photos were taken in the Desert Museum near Tucson in the West Saguaro National Park. If you are ever in the area, be sure and visit but go early and be prepared to stay all day. November is a perfect temperature time of year and the crowds are small in comparison to some of the really busy times. Enjoy!

 

Desert Museum Hunters

15 Nov - 2006 We visited the Desert Museum near Tucson the other day and it was a 4 hour visit! Even then we could probably have taken longer but we needed to meet the nephew so we called it a day. It is a great museum and very well done. I will try to share some of the photos of animals, birds and plants. You will note the absence of reptiles - that is in keeping with Becky's almost phobic dislike of such critters so if those are your interests I can only suggest you visit the museum's web site http://www.desertmuseum.org/ and hope they are including them at the time .

 

Trees, Grasses and Adobe

14 Nov 2006 - Still in Madera Canyon we found this Alligator Juniper (note the bark), walked up one of the trails along the grass and wooded canyons and then along an old trail leading along a stream. We were at about 6000 feet and the grasses and trees were not 'desert like' at all. We even got to see some fall colors! Up the stream there was the wall shown in the last photo which was all that remained of an old trading post dating from the late 1800's. What interested me was the fact of the builders making 'bricks' out of the adobe before stacking them. I guess in my mind's eye I had envisioned the walls being made by just making a wall as we would put up a concrete wall (using a form or whatever). As you can see the bricks must have been made in a form of some type just as though they were making 'normal' bricks - just using adobe mud.

 

Entwined Trees

14 Nov 2006 - We visited the nearby Madera Canyon State Park and I had never encountered two trees that had grown so much together as these two. It may not be obvious in the photos but the trunks/branches of the two trees had grown 'into' the other's trunk/branches. Both appeared reasonably healthy although the darker one had lost its leaves already.

 

Golfing With Old Friends

14 Nov 2006 - A couple of weeks ago our friends we met in England successfully made the trip to Green Valley, AZ for the planned rounds of golf and Becky and I dutifully went out on the course to take our beating like the good sports we are (well something like that). Here we are about to embark on one of the rounds. I can tell it is BEFORE the round as we all look happy and rested - you should have seen us at the conclusion of our rounds!! It was an enjoyable time and we actually enjoyed the golf - probably because Becky and I had opted to only play every other day and rest on the other days whilst the others played their round. At least one, Martha, agreed with our approach and has sworn to take at least one day off next year!!

 

Desert Landscaping

9 November 2006 - Becky was intrigued with the possibilities of landscaping using desert plants. Low maintenance landscaping always interests me. Here are three examples of what folks have done and you probably would not believe the businesses associated with some of them. The first is along a minor highway in front of a business complex, the second is in front of storage unit complex and the last is the visitor's center at West Seguaro National Park. Quite a contrast to some of the landscaping (or lack of same) we have encountered across the US.

 

A 'Rose' Among the Thorns

9 November 2006 - As in life, all is not 'thorny' in the desert. Here you can see more of the thorns but, as you can see, there are also flowers (and fruit). Things were not really 'in bloom' at this time of year but we did find a few examples of what the plants can bring besides 'stickers'.

 

Be Careful of the Thorns!

9 November 2006 - It sometimes seems that every plant you encounter in the desert is 'out to get you'- in most cases you are right. These are a few of the more picturesque examples. Don't their beauty fool you - they are all SHARP.

 

Seguaro National Park

9 November 2006 - A drive through Seguaro National Park is a must if you are in the Tucson area. Of course the 'star' of the show is these giant cactus. Becky is not here right at the moment but I believe she told me she heard they have to be at least 75 years old before they have any 'arms'. They grow best at a relatively narrow band of elevations so you start up the grade with only a few examples which, as you drive upward, becomes a virtual forest! The desert here is much, much more dense with vegetation of some sort than most of the deserts around the world.

 

Dead or Alive

9 November 2006 - Seguaro Cactus fascinate almost everyone with their almost human appearance when viewed in certain ways but I had not realized what their internal structure was like until I saw these up in Segraro National Park. The first photo clearly depicts the internals of what was once a living plant but is now only 'bones'. The second photo lets you see another example but lets you see the live example in the background. The last photo is a sunset at our park. We have been blessed with clear weather so have not seen the really beautiful sunsets which come with lots of clouds - perhaps before we leave next week.

 

Arizona Cactus (Cactii?)

9 November 2006 - Although I lived in the Mojave Desert for some 14 years, the Arizona Desert has a much larger selection of desert plants, including cactus. These are some of the ones we found right around our RV park. Yes, there will be more to follow but I had to start somewhere. Sorry but I cannot provide you the names of all of them and rather than creating confusion by naming some and not others (and mis-naming some!) I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to do a search to determine their proper name.